"Not a chance!"

Rood controlled six blood daggers that he had created and sliced through the tiny flying birds, completely ignoring the dead bodies that had managed to break free. The birds were very quick, so some of them managed to dodge the floating daggers.

Roze wasn't losing out either. She very quickly shot the birds with frightening accuracy using blood arrows, killing them instantly. With every passing second, more and more tiny birds fell down lifelessly on the ground.

"Growl!"

The dead bodies that had broken free started charging at them. Those corpses, although badly mangled, could strangely walk straight with a speed like that of a healthy adult.

"Rood, take care of them! I'll chase down the man," commanded Roze.

Rood nodded and controlled the blood daggers to come to his side. Then, he scattered them around, cutting open the corpses' legs to incapacitate them. The blood daggers danced in the air with agility, easily slicing through flesh and muscles like they were paper.

The birds that managed to escape from the bombardment gathered and quickly formed the shape of a man on the staircase. It was a man with a crooked nose and a cleft chin and there were injuries all over his body because a lot of the birds were killed. He couldn't move fast in that condition, so his only option was to fight back.

The man with the blood weapons should be busy dealing with the corpses, and the woman is quickly approaching my position. I have to act quickly now or my life is over.

The man stood on the staircase took out a flute from the robe that he was wearing. He then blew it and played a sinister melody.

Trill!

The sound attracted the corpses and they quickly dashed towards the entrance of the chamber. The corpses piled their mangled bodies on top of each other and completely blocked the entrance.

This should hinder her a little. She seems strong, so I don't think the barricade will last long.

Tootle Too!

He played the flute again and this time, a soothing melody came out of it. Parts of the dead bodies that were on his side of the door came falling off and started squirming towards his location. The rotten flesh wiggled about and not long after, they were within the range of the man. The pieces of flesh jumped and attached themselves to the man's wound, slowly integrating into the man's body and healing his injuries.

It always feels unpleasant, but I have no other choice. Now it's time to bail.

Kaboom!

The wall of corpses was completely destroyed by an explosion and Roze came through the gap that she made.

Shit. A Sagitarr indeed is difficult to deal with. I guess running away is not an option now.

The man started chanting quickly.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Necromancy and Sin, hereby amplify your deepest, most repressed desire. Manifest and take control over your mind!"

Roze froze in place. The ability seemed to have affected her.

No need to see what desire got amplified. Now it's time for me to run.

The man quickly climbed up the stairs and exited through the hole that Roze had made. Roze, who was still standing at the end of the dark corridor, suddenly got up and returned to the room where Rood was. The latter had almost finished destroying all the corpses, so they shouldn't be able to come back to life.

"Rood, I've always wanted you!" said Roze while jumping at Rood.

She tried to embrace him but Rood could quickly dodge her arms. Roze was definitely not herself. Her eyes looked like someone who was infatuated, and her action was like a dog in heat.

"Is this the enemy's doing?" said Rood while taking out a paper pouch from his pocket.

Inside the pouch, there was a purple powder that emitted a strange aura. Rood quickly pinned Roze down to the ground and forced her to inhale the powder. Once the fine dust entered her nose, she gradually came back to her senses and the lust in her eyes disappeared.

"Thinking straight now? I'm your cousin you sick fuck!" said Rood in anger.

What the fuck did I try to do? This was too embarrassing. There is no way I can look at him the same way again.

Roze was flustered, but she quickly got back on her feet and shot an angry look at Rood.

"Don't you dare let a word about what happened out," she replied, also in anger.

The two of them quickly exited the room to chase the escaping enemy.

"What did the enemy do to you?" asked Rood.

"He's a Sinner. That's all you need to know," replied Roze shortly.

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The enemy had managed to get out of their sight, so they quickly climbed up the stairs and got out of the basement through the hole that she had made earlier.

Shit. They recovered that quickly. There is something really dangerous as well coming here from the second floor.

The man with the chiseled face played another tune on his flute, and the calming melody resounded in the room. The sound seemed to be coming from all over the place instead of one source, While playing the melody, he exited the apartment with the number six on the door, walking quietly to avoid making noise. He was lucky that the door was already open so he didn't have to do it.

As I expected, the Police are all over the place. As long as I don't make a lot of noise, they shouldn't be able to see me.

"Who's playing that song?" asked a Police officer with a confused look on his face.

The Police officers tasked to guard the first-floor corridor looked around in confusion. They were trying hard to concentrate and pinpoint the source of the melody, but it seemed to come from every direction and at the same time, from their own ears.

Roze and Rood arrived at the corridor not long after. They saw the confused look on the officers' faces and heard the melody too. They looked around to find the source but were also unable to do so.

"This is a Balladeer's ability. Our enemy is a dual Marquis Contractbound!" said Roze.

The man was still walking quietly while playing the flute, heading towards the exit. He was surrounded, so he couldn't afford to make a mistake right now.

Roze whispered something to Rood, and then the latter nodded. She then shouted suddenly.

"Duck!"

All the Police Officers quickly ducked as commanded and Rood controlled his blood daggers to sweep indiscriminately across the corridor, leaving no safe room for anyone to hide. However, none of the blood daggers hit anything besides the air, and the melody kept on playing.

If I hadn't seen the suspicious movement of those people, I would have become mincemeat now.

The man kept playing the melody while crawling slowly towards the exit. However, suddenly he couldn't move, although he could still play the tune to make himself invisible.

"Daddy let's play!"

There was an eerie sound coming from the stairs, approaching him quickly. It sounded like the voice of a young boy with a cut-open throat. On the staircase, there was a wooden puppet that was made in the image of a young boy, complete with the clothes, floating in the air like someone was pulling its strings. Its expression was twisted, however, unlike that of an innocent boy. The puppet's eyes were fixated on a spot in the corridor, where no one was supposed to be.

Shit! It's a Ghost Puppet.

The man was trying very hard to break free from the puppet's control, but he was still unable to move no matter how hard he tried.

"He's there!" shouted Roze as she aimed at the spot with her bow.

Whoosh!

Her blood arrow pierced through the air and stopped midway. It had hit something and was stuck in the person's flesh. The man soon couldn't maintain his flute playing and his figure was revealed to everyone there. There was an arrow lodged in his right shoulder with blood flowing from the wound.

"It seems that you found me. But I'm afraid I have to say goodbye," said the man with a confident smirk.

Suddenly, they felt a very dangerous presence and the whole apartment building shook violently.

Rumble!!

The shaking continued for several seconds and it got even stronger as time passed.

"Everyone, watch out!" shouted Roze.

The whole building kept shaking and then the ceilings started collapsing. Rood destroyed a piece of the ceiling that was about to fall on top of his men with his blood dagger and quickly ran towards where the enemy was lying down. However, there was now no one there, and on top of that, the Ghost Puppet was lying on the floor motionlessly.

"Our target is gone!" he shouted.

"It doesn't matter! Right now we have to evacuate the residents first. Everyone, go and save as many people as you can! I'll provide support!" commanded Roze.

The Police officers spread out and went into each room that still had their residents sleeping inside. Despite the strong shaking, the residents were still sleeping because of Geel's curse. Roze and Rood provided support by destroying any falling concrete that would hit their men, while also help carry the sleeping citizens when they could.

It was very risky to try to save all the residents because the building could collapse anytime soon. However, as the protector of the citizens, they had to try their best. It was a long and difficult effort, especially with the violent shaking. After saving several people, they felt that the building wouldn't last any longer, so Roze commanded her men to retreat at once.

Crash!

The whole building finally collapsed. The residents, who had woken up as soon as they took a step outside, looked very confused. They didn't know what was happening and suddenly their houses were gone.

"Geel, how many people are still in there?" asked Roze.

Geel looked at Roze seriously. Her calm gaze was replaced by a despairing look.

"I think more than half the residents are still inside," she answered with a weak voice.

All the people present heard her and looked at the remains of a six-story apartment in front of them. Under the pieces of concrete, there must be a lot of dead bodies of the unfortunate residents who failed to be evacuated in time. They had died in their sleep, without knowing what had happened.

"My child! My child is still in there!"

"What happened?! This isn't real!"

"Mama, where are you?"

Dust and smoke rose to the air, along with the people's last bit of calmness. The people outside the building were struck by panic and desperation. The sound of crying and screaming mixed together. The cloudy afternoon was painted dark by the people's sorrowful expression. Some of them, in lack of better options, ran towards the rubble and started frantically searching for their family members or belongings without caring about the risk.

"Everyone stop! It's dangerous over there!" shouted Roze.

"What is this?! Why is this happening!? You are the Police, right?! Give us an explanation!" a man yelled at one of the Police officers there with tears running down his cheeks.

Geel collapsed to the ground and screamed in guilt.

...

A public motor carriage was driving on Noordparkstraat slowly. There was a commotion that caused traffic to slow down and there were the sounds of both the Police and the Fire Department's sirens blaring ahead.

"What the hell is happening?" asked Jacco while looking out of the window.

There was a collapsed building and people were busy moving the rubbles out of the way to try to rescue any survivors. There was even heavy machinery to help move the bigger pieces of concrete that were too heavy for normal people.

"An earthquake? By why is it only that one building that collapsed?" replied Luuk.

A Contractbound? But why did they have to destroy the entire building? Well, whatever. I'm sure Graham will be able to use his divination to find out.

They didn't continue talking after that and only focused on watching the evacuation process by the two government bodies. The motor carriage they were driving was held up by the traffic, so it took them very long to pass that street. The number of curious bystanders wasn't helping either.

Pieces by pieces, the rubbles were removed and more and more dead bodies were recovered. The expressions of the residents who survived the incident were pained when they saw the dead bodies that belonged to their family members.

"This is really bad. If it was really a Contractbound, they have provoked the government now," said Graham quietly.

The motor carriage they were riding kept on driving until it finally left the street.